Sonny Quinn, Nickname Giver Extraordinare
by lauren2381
Summary: "It's ok baby, but can you give with Uncle Sonny? He wants to take you somewhere fun," Alana cajoled, trying to entice her with some sort of bribe. Except Sonny didn't have a clue as to what that bribe would be, or how he was supposed to entertain an almost five-year-old for an hour. Sure as shit wasn't schwacking some bad guys.


Hurrying through the halls of the hospital, Sonny Quinn wasn't sure what he was going to find when he got up to the floor where his brother was resting. A knife wound received in the middle of the jungle wasn't the best way for someone to come back from a spin up; a spin up where he had just managed to meet his son days before deploying.

Jason Hayes had gotten the shit end of the stick.

Signing in at the visitor's desk, Sonny hurried over to the glass doors and stopped short. Jason was sleeping peacefully but Alana was wrangling two small children looking harried. Ah hell, he never wanted to see anyone having a hard time, but when it was your brother's wife, it hit a little differently.

"Sonny Quinn, I have never been so grateful to see your face," Alana said gratefully. Tears were threatening to spill over the corners of her eyes, and she was certain that Emma Kate was two minutes away from having a meltdown. She needed help before she lost her marbles and Jason wasn't going to be any help.

He couldn't help her, because he had twelve stitches and four staples in his gut.

"How you doing there 'lana?" Sonny Quinn was no dummy, but if there was one thing that he learned throughout his life, it was to never assume that a woman was either fine or not fine based on her appearance. It only led to getting his butt whooped and he had no desire to be bunking in the other bed in Jason's tiny ass hospital room. Much better to ask and be seen as the 'thoughtful' one than to assume and be seen as the ass.

"Oh you know, my husband is lying in a hospital bed after a near death experience _again_, my son won't take his bottle, and my daughter thinks that I'm the world's worst mother because I won't let her climb all over her father because he has countless stitches covering his stomach. I'm doing just _fine_," Alana raged. Sonny didn't deserve her fury, but he was the only one that was a) awake and b) old enough to understand why she was upset.

"He's gonna be fine, Alana. He pulls out of this stuff like no other," Sonny tried to reassure her. He wasn't the best with crying women, but for her, he would do his best to calm her down. He had known Alana since he was drafted to Bravo almost five years ago and in those four- and three- quarter years, he had never seen Alana look so _tired_. Her hair was limp and greasy, dark circles under her eyes. She was dressed comfortably, but there was the definitive stain of baby vomit on the corner of her sweater.

"I know he's going to be fine Sonny; I _know_. I'm just overwhelmed."

Alana had come home from the hospital from delivering Mikey almost a week ago and it was perfect. Jason was able to be there for the entire birth, his mother was there to help with Emma, and her sweet, Mikey man was healthy. They had several days of bliss.

Then the call came and the snow globe shattered, reality set back in.

There would always be another spin up and Jason would always want to do another mission. And she was fine with it as long as he kept coming back safe, as long as he didn't come back in a box. This was a little too close for comfort.

She still remembers the phone call that tilted her world on its axis. Emma was playing in the yard and Mikey had just finished eating, then the phone rang. Thinking nothing of it, she answered the phone and put it between her ear and her shoulder. Then she heard the words that no Navy wife ever wanted to hear. The perfectly rehearsed, perfectly polite: "I'm very sorry to inform you that your husband has been wounded in combat."

After that the details are hazy. She dropped the phone and held onto Mikey, breathing in the sweet scent of baby, calming herself to listen more intently. With shaking hands, she raised the phone back to her ear and wrote down the details from a young man who sounded barely old enough to be in the Navy.

Jason had gotten himself stabbed. Stabbed of all things.

Alana thought that she had finally handled everything that could be thrown at her. She had been through gunshots and bombings and burns and broken bones. She just didn't think that he would be stabbed of all things while on a routine OP in a jungle, yet, here they are. Another hospital bed with another wound.

Another thing she would have to try and explain to her child, well children now.

The pair sat in silence as Jason slept. Mikey was sleeping in his car seat and Emma was coloring, a pout still firmly set on her angelic face. There was something brewing in her tiny little mind and Sonny would bet money on a temper tantrum. "How can I help 'lana?"

"Do you mind taking Emma out for a bit?" Alana asked desperately, reaching to pick up Mikey from his car seat when he started to fuss. "They're going to do a dressing change soon and I don't want her to see that."

"I don't wanna," Emma grunted, scribbling her crayon more forcefully across her page.

"Emma Kate," Alana reproached.

"Don't call me Emma Kate!" she screeched, throwing her crayon across the room, nearly hitting Alana in the face. Well, now that was something that wouldn't fly with Sonny Quinn. His grandninny had beaten into his head that respect for other people was crucial, and Ms. Emma Kate would learn that lesson sooner or later. Guess today was the day.

"Hey now little lady, that ain't no way to speak to your mama," Sonny said firmly.

"I don't wanna leave daddy," Emma wailed, crocodile tears rolling down her face. She had just gotten her daddy back, leaving again so soon was mean. He needed to get better so they could go to the park, he promised.

"Even if you don't want to leave, there is no reason for talking to your mama like that."

Thoroughly chastised, Emma bit her tiny lip and looked down at her shoes. She knew that she was being naughty, but no one was paying her any mind. It was all about stupid Mikey, even when it should be about her. Daddy promised that when he got back that they would do something together and he broke his promise. They weren't going to get to do anything fun. "I'm sorry mama," she whispered.

"It's ok baby, but can you give with Uncle Sonny? He wants to take you somewhere fun," Alana cajoled, trying to entice her with some sort of bribe. Except Sonny didn't have a clue as to what that bribe would be, or how he was supposed to entertain an almost five-year-old for an hour. Sure as shit wasn't schwacking some bad guys.

Emma thought for a moment. Uncle Sonny was fun, and if he wanted to take her somewhere, the place had to be fun too. "Do I get to come back after?"

"Yes, Emmie K, you get to come back," Alana chuckled. Her girl could be so literal sometimes, but she wouldn't have it any other way. "How else do you think you're going to get home silly goose?"

"Okie dokes," Emma folded her picture and put it back on the table next to daddy's desk. He needed to be able to see it when he woke up. Every sick person needed a get-well card and this was one from her, though she signed Mikey's name on it as well. He couldn't write yet. "Uncle Sonny, where are we going?"

Well shoot. He didn't know where they were going yet, but it needed to be fun. "It's a surprise, but we better move these feet if we wanna get there in time," Sonny said grabbing her little hand in his. As they passed Alana, she mouthed a heartfelt 'thank you' and Sonny felt his heart swell in his chest. It wasn't much, but he swore that he would do whatever it took to get his brother back on his feet again. It was his fault after all that he had gotten nicked by that crazy knife-wielding chick.

Truth be told, Sonny didn't know exactly how it had happened. One minute they were fine and doing a perimeter check for Adam and the next Jason was on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood. The normally stoic man howled in pain and tried to keep the flaps of his abdomen together with his hands while Sonny just stared. He didn't do anything to help his brother, so now he was going to repay that debt. He had to repay the debt.

Walking down the hospital hallway with Emma, Sonny racked his brain for a place that he could take Emma. He didn't want to go too far, so that ruled out leaving the hospital. As they rode the elevator down to the main floor, Sonny Quinn saw the heavens open up and distantly heard angels singing, there was an ice cream shop. Little girls liked ice cream, right?

"Uncle Sonny?"

"Yeah Emma," he muttered absentmindedly, almost forgetting that he held her hand in his.

"Can we get ice cream?"

Sonny peered down at the little lady through his beard and grinned. That solved that problem quite nicely if he did say so himself. "We sure can, tell me do you like vanilla or chocolate?"

"Chocolate!" the little girl cheered, happy to be getting her way for once. Things upstairs in the hospital room weren't happy, but with Uncle Sonny and ice cream, nothing could go wrong. As she sat down on the little bench and swung her feet, Emma thought again of her daddy. Normally the park and ice cream dates were her and daddy's thing, but daddy wasn't here. He had a boo boo and none of Emma's kisses were making it better.

Sniffling slightly, Emma tilted her face away from Uncle Sonny, not wanting him to see her tears and think that she was a baby. But no matter how many times she blinked or how many scoops of ice cream she ate, the tears kept coming in steady waves, hot and unrelenting.

"Hey now Emmie K, what's this?" Sonny would be the first person to admit that he wasn't the best with crying women, and he was even worse with crying children. However, his fear of Alana was _far _greater than his fear of tears, the woman wouldn't hesitate to shank him if he returned her daughter in anything less than perfect condition. Red eyes and flushed cheeks did not the picture of health make.

The little girl in question didn't make a peep, but the sobs that were welling up inside her tiny body erupted and then there was no stopping them, not even with the promise of more whipped cream.

Well shit. This went to hell and a handbasket faster than he expected.

He couldn't just leave her crying in front of him, he was already getting weird looks from strangers in the ice cream shop. Prying the spoon from her hand, Sonny heaved her over the table and settled her on his lap, rubbing her back softly. The warmth of her tears soaked through the thin cotton of his t shirt and he was sure that there would be a snot stain somewhere, kids were cute, but undeniably gross.

No matter what nonsense he spouted or how he bounced and jiggled the girl, the tears wouldn't stop rolling and he couldn't understand her well enough to be able to even comprehend what she was so upset about. Just as he was about to eat his baseball cap, a thought came to him, inspired by the one true love of his life, his grandninny.

Now Sonny Quinn wasn't ashamed of his life and he wasn't ashamed to tell anyone who asked that the best person in his life was his grandninny, God rest her soul. She had taught him more about what it was to be a man than any other person in his life, and one of her first lessons to him was that if words don't work, song sure as hell will. And that woman used that lesson to her advantage every time his foolish teenage self did something rebellious or when he just wasn't seeing sense, and to his frustration the woman was right. Every. Single. Time.

Sending a quick thought up to his grandninny, he began to sing quietly into Emma's ear, hoping to distract her enough before she passed out from sobbing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray," he drawled, slightly off key.

As he murmured the same line over and over in her ear, because truth be told he couldn't remember the rest of that asinine song his grandninny used to sing, she started to sniffle less, then the sobs stopped completely until there were only trickles coming down her face. "Wanna tell Uncle Sonny what that was all about?"

"I missed daddy and wanted him to come home, he said he would play with me, but he came home with a boo boo and it's all my fault!" she wailed. For a moment, Sonny was afraid that the waterworks would start again, but then when her words sank in, he felt like the biggest piece of shit on the planet. He was the reason that Jason was lying in that bed, and yet his four-year-old kid was trying to figure out a way to blame herself.

"Emma, it wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known that daddy was going to be hurt. And I'm sure that he'll take you to the park when he's all better, you'll see," Sonny tried to keep a smile on his face when he spoke to Emma, but internally all he wanted to do was cry himself. How on Earth did Alana do this, day in and day out. It was like having your own Jiminy Cricket staring back at you every time you looked into her blue eyes.

"Do ya promise Uncle Sonny? Daddy said that he went to go fight bad guys for me, and then when he left, he came back with a boo boo."

"I'm positive and Uncle Sonny doesn't lie."

The pair sat in silence for a moment, cups of ice cream melting in front of them when Emma wiggled and reached across the table, tiny arm just shy of reaching her cup. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Sonny tickled the little girl's side and grinned when she let out a happy shriek, chocolate covered mouth grinning widely.

"Finish up your ice cream, I think it's almost time for you to see your daddy, little lady."

Emma nodded through enthusiastic bites of ice cream, getting more on her face and shirt than in her mouth. Eating ice cream with Uncle Sonny was fun, maybe it didn't have to be just her and daddy. Daddy never let her get this much ice cream either, but she wasn't going to say anything about that.

When she ate the last bite of ice cream, Sonny wiped her mouth as best as he could but gave up on the shirt. That was Alana's department, he was delivering a healthy and happy child, she could handle the laundry situation. Hand in hand, Sonny and Emma walked back to Jason's hospital room and listened to the happy voices that came from the room. Just before Emma could run in, Sonny stopped her and knelt down, level with her gaze.

"Now you listen here little lady, I want you to be a good little girl for mama. Don't be bringing any rain clouds down on my sunshine." Sonny stared at her big blue eyes and for a moment could understand why Jason had told his daughter that he fought for her, the innocence in her gaze deserved to be protected from the horrors that they saw on a daily basis and Sonny would do whatever it took to keep it there, even if it was from the darker sides of himself. He could be fun, happy-go-lucky Uncle Sonny for her.

He would do anything for her.

"Okie dokes Uncle Sonny, but you hafta color with me!" Emma squealed, happy that her daddy was awake and happy that her mommy wasn't holding Mikey. She was her mama after all, and now she got Uncle Sonny to herself too.

Sonny shook his head and followed the little girl into the hospital room and accepted the grateful hug from Alana.

Bravo was family and sometimes all you needed was someone to hold an umbrella during a rainstorm.


End file.
